Chillin' with Dylan

September 12, 2013

By DYLAN MALONE
Pigskin Picks. Ultimate fan photo of the week. Tailgating picture of the week. Outdoor pics of the month. AP college football poll online!
I must be out of my mind trying to do all of these things at once but it’s all worth it after the results. I put the entire standings from all the Pigskin pickers this week and I’ll try to put them up every week coinciding with the Pigskin page that comes out every week.
Also, we’re calling for your tailgating pictures this football season. Not just Boilermaker fans, either. Mr. Wylie Sirk, former Bellmont superintendent, has been gracious enough to write a weekly article for Purdue football (the next edition will be out tomorow) and it’s high time I see someone step forward with an Indiana or Notre Dame preview.
If you’re going to be at a college football tailgater this weekend or even if you’re ‘gating at the high school level, send us some pics of it and you could make the newspaper for our Tailgating photos section.
The same can be said about outdoor pics. Hunters and fisherman unite. I want to see some photos of the outdoor side of sports. Send me a picture of the elusive bass finally caught or the boys hanging out in the tree stand. I’d love to do an Outdoor photo of the month.
Fan photos of the week is aimed towards the high schools in Adams County. I’ve already witnessed first hand “beach night” at Adams Central and there were some pretty good pictures taken that night. I’d like to see Bellmont and South Adams get into this as well. This is all about you, high schoolers. Get your heads together and bring out a theme for the football game or pack the house at the volleyball games for pure fan-dom to take place. Put your pride on display!
The college AP Poll can now be seen on our webpage (www.decaturdailydemocrat.com[1]) every week starting with the week-to-week changes on Monday morning. Go check out where your college team ranks online.

ADAMS CENTRAL’S LOSS
It’s been a roller coaster ride already this season for the AC Jets football squad. Already adjusting to life without Dalton Combs, the all-time leading passer in AC history, but now the senior who shadowed him for three years is out with an ACL injury. The ball is in the hands of a freshman whose first start was a glaring 42-0 loss to Leo, a game which can hardly be blamed on the frosh hurler.
But life will go on.
That’s the part that high schoolers have the most trouble with. I was in the northwestern part of Indiana last spring when the Jets won regional in baseball. There I saw Mr. Cooper Hill’s shoulder pop out of place inexplicably at third base.
My jaw stayed open when he tried to stay on the field. It sprang open even further when he came back out to finish the game later.
Some kids are born with toughness and some are taught it at a young age. There are even differing types of toughness for a high schooler to have; physical and mental. I’m hoping Cooper has the latter.
I’m sure it was devastating for him to find out that it was an ACL and that his quarterbacking days at Adams Central were over really before they got started.
Understanding beyond his years is asking a lot in this situation, but I know that Cooper has to develop the kind of mental toughness that made him get back on the field during baseball season.
And that’s ultimately what’s on the line come spring time. Will the injury heal in time for at least some of his senior season for coach Neuenschwander on the diamond? Time will tell.
Whether Coop gets on the diamond or not is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The important thing is what I know about Cooper Hill. He’s an impactful kid, on and off the field.
This is more for him to read and understand. You can hang your head and feel cheated out of your sports career, but when it’s put in its right perspective, the high school football game under the Friday night lights is such a short part of this life.
Having the opportunity to watch Cooper Hill grow up through middle school and into high school from those moments I get to share with Campus Life, it’s obvious that Cooper is an awesome kid.
This is starting to sound more like an obituary but I can’t state enough, particularly right to Cooper, that this is such a short life. It must be hard right now but the interactions we have with people on a daily basis impact people in ways we’ll never know. To me, that’s a greater legacy than anything that happens on the gridiron. What will we do with our lives off the field?